Toronto Blue Jays promote Bobby Korecky, who gets to stay with them for one day

TORONTO – Over 13 years, Bobby Korecky has appeared in 500 professional games. All but 22 were in the minor leagues, where he was a reliable but unremarkable reliever whose big-league prospects were minimal, especially as he pitched into his 30s.

Then he discovered a new pitch, and maybe the fountain of youth.

Korecky is 34. He often wonders what might have been if he had started throwing a cut fastball way back when.

“Oh, man, I told my wife that a few times,” he said as he set up his locker in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse on Friday. “I wish someone would’ve told me about this about 10 years ago.”

A few hours later, Korecky retired all four batters he faced at the end of a loss to Kansas City. Immediately after the game, the Jays designated him for assignment, which means they needed a disposable arm for one day and he was it. They hope he will clear waivers so they can send him back to Buffalo. At any rate, his excitement over an unexpected promotion was short-lived.

But before that post-game letdown, Korecky happily discussed the new pitch that helped him log an ERA of 0.29 in Buffalo.

The pitch is what they call the cutter, which Mariano Rivera made famous and the pitch that got Korecky back to the big leagues following a sensational two months of relief work at Triple-A. After allowing one run in 31 innings, Korecky was called up by the Jays – for the briefest of visits – to reinforce their overworked bullpen. Rookie Rob Rasmussen was sent back to Buffalo after a 10-day stay.

A fastball-slider pitcher throughout his career (3.07 ERA in the minors, 7.30 in 22 big-league games), Korecky started fooling around with the cutter wile playing catch late last season in Buffalo. With the help of pitching coach Bob Stanley (now the Jays’ bullpen coach), he picked it up quickly and found it effective during the final month of the Bisons’ season and again during spring training.

“It’s opened up doors for me I didn’t know existed,” he said.

He says he throws the cutter 90% of the time, but still mixes in his slider and fastball. His cutter is roughly five miles per hour faster than the slider, he said.

“I’ve always been more of a two-pitch guy coming through the minor leagues,” he said. “Having a third pitch, I’m just getting reactions [from batters] I’ve never seen before.”

Such as more takes on his slider and more misses and weak contact on the cutter. He did not allow a run in his first 17 innings at Buffalo. Overall, he struck out 32 and walked eight in 31 innings.

Then, as he got off the team plane from Indianapolis in Buffalo, manager Gary Allenson told him he had another trip to make – up the QEW to the Rogers Centre.

“Very unexpected, very excited,” he said.

Friday’s clubhouse scene has become familiar this season. A Buffalo recruit arrives, expresses his excitement, shares his story with assembled reporters and shortly thereafter is sent packing back to Buffalo. (The Jays have made 37 moves affecting their big-league roster this month.) For a few days, manager John Gibbons raved about Rasmussen and enjoyed the luxury of having three lefties in his bullpen. Korecky, a right-hander, took Rasmussen’s place because “we needed an arm,” Gibbons said.

“Bobby’s been unbelievable down there,” the manager said. “It’s a nice little honour for him.”

Korecky was 28 when he made his big-league debut with Minnesota in 2008. He also pitched briefly with Arizona in 2009 and one game with the Jays in 2012. His career has been interrupted by Tommy John surgery twice.

He is the classic minor-league lifer who always believed he had a chance to pitch in The Show. His cutter gave him a new opportunity at an age when few are chosen. But after all those years in the minors, he is a realist about the business of baseball.

“Either way, I’m still getting a chance to do what I love,” he said, “whether it’s here or in Buffalo.”

Or somewhere else, if another team claims him off waivers or the Jays can work out a trade with an interested club.